Plan Revised for Saving Kootenai River White Sturgeon

BOISE, Idaho – Federal officials are revising a 1999 plan as part of a strategy to recover endangered white sturgeon in the Kootenai River in northern Idaho and western Montana.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking public comments through July 29 on the draft recovery plan revisions released last week.

The document reflects advancements in understanding of white sturgeon and changes that have taken place over the last two decades to help the fish rebound.

Sturgeon have been around since the dinosaurs. They have armor-like scales, and in the Kootenai River system have been recorded up to 10 feet (3 meters) long.

But the population has struggled since the completion of Libby Dam in Montana in 1974, which altered the natural cycle of the river.